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| He's not who you thought! The latest life story from the man who brought you Hamilton. photo of book - dwm |
I knew the short version of Ulysses S Grant's life-story - a fighting general during the Civil War when President Lincoln couldn't find anyone else ready to lead the troops aggressively and a man whose life was ruined by his drinking.
That summary sells General and President Grant very short.
One of his best qualities as a leader (especially to a reader in the 21st century) was his humility.
This passage shows a glimpse of the man after a major Civil War victory over the south in Mississippi.
With none of the conquistador in his nature, Grant impressed most folks in Vicksburg with his unassuming, egalitarian nature. When he went to a barbershop for a haircut, an aide tried to shove Lieutenant Frank Parker from a chair to make room for him, but Grant refused to brush aside a junior officer. "You are all right, my friend; go ahead," Grant said. "You feel just as much like getting cleaned up like any general, and you have got as much right to your turn as I have to mine." Parker was touched since the hirsute Grant desperately needed a barber's attention. (Grant, page 291)
Despite his rank or his position as the General on the winning side of the war; the failed shop keeper from Galena, Illinois seemed to get the philosophy and instincts of of his president, also from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln.
The reputation Grant had regarding trouble with the bottle is true; to a point. In the carefully researched book, Ron Chernow, lays out the misbehavior was part of his illness, but that it was far from a daily and ever-present problem.
A side of General Grant I didn't expect were his views about the reason for the Civil War and his attitude toward African-Americans.
He recognized the fight's mission was to end slavery. With each victory, Grant offered freed slaves jobs supporting the troops and the idea of black soldiers joining the Union fighting force.
As President, Grant supported passage of 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments which abolished slavery (13), confer citizenship (14), and prevent states from denying voting rights (15).
On March 30 (1870), as one hundred guns boomed in the capital in celebration , Grant composed an unusual message to Congress celebrating that the amendment had become part of the Constitution that day, and his words fervently embraced black suffrage: "A measure which makes at once Four Millions of people heretofore declared by the highest tribunal in the land, not citizens of the United States, nor eligible to become so, voters in every part of the land, the right not to be abridged by any state, is indeed a measure of grander importance than any other one act of the kind from the foundation of our free government to the present day... constitutes the most important event that has occurred, since the nation came into life." (Grant, page 685)
Because I am familiar with Civil War history, that portion of the book moved quickly. In the time between the war and his election as President, I was less acquainted and thorough writing slowed my pace of reading.
His presidency was unlikely and would be impossible today. He didn't campaign, considering it undignified (what would he think of modern elections?). A major character flaw was that he naively trusted his appointees and advisers. It bit him a number of times while in office as he was out of the loop of corruption carried out by aides and Cabinet secretaries who lied to him.
Grant was ahead of his time on a number of political and national issues; one that surprised me was his advocacy for public education for all.
..he advocated a constitutional amendment that would require every state "to establish and forever maintain free public schools adequate to the education of all children... irrespective of sex, color, birthplace, or religions; forbidding the teaching in said schools of religious, atheistic, or pagan tenets; and prohibiting the granting of any school-funds, or school-taxes... in aid... or any religious sect or denomination." (Grant, page 812)
Grant recommended a separation of church and state and educating all children irrespective of sex, color, birthplace or religions!
One wonders how our country might be different today had those principals taken root. Reconstruction began under Grant. In my reading, he was a strong advocate to carry out the changes completely, but as voters won back positions in the south and citizens in north and south tired of the on-going skirmishes hatred and fear effectively reinstated pre-war beliefs.
The final chapter is riveting. Grant lost most of his money to an early Ponzi scheme, leaving him ill and desperate to accumulate enough money to take of his wife and family.
Mark Twain persuaded him to write his memoirs and he did - finishing the story just before his eyes closed for the final time. That book was a huge success for Twain's publishing house and the Grants as Twain negotiated a contract which returned Grant to solvency and took care of his widow.
This is a tremendous book. I strongly recommend it for your summer reading. While it may not be a page-turner throughout, it is an incredible story, shining a light on an obscure part of our nation's history.
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